Although the advantages of reducing power consumption in semiconductor devices are well known, some standard circuit configurations of the prior art do not provide as great of saving in power consumption as is possible. For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a current driver interface 100 architecture. Interface 100 includes a data source 105, a predriver 110 and a driver 115. Data source 105 is a latch or other well-known system and in the example of FIG. 1 operates to convert the data into a differential signal. Predriver 110 receives the differential data from source 105 and produces sufficient drive to tum on a transistor M1 and a transistor M2 in driver 115. The current in a transistor M3 in driver 115 determines the capability of driver 115.
The prior art typically reconfigures or operates on driver 15 in attempting to achieve improved power savings for interface 110. Because of the configuration of driver 115, including M1 and M2, predriver 110 is typically operated at full power to properly interact with driver 115, thereby preventing one avenue of potential power savings.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for a predriver and driver interface having scalable output drive capability with corresponding scalable power. The present invention addresses such a need.